Taebaek Mountains
This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(April 2012) |
Taebaek Mountains | |
Korean name | |
---|---|
Hangul | 태백산맥 |
Hanja | |
Revised Romanization | Taebaek Sanmaek |
McCune–Reischauer | T'aebaek Sanmaek |
TheTaebaek Mountains(Korean:태백산맥) are a mountain range that stretches acrossNorth KoreaandSouth Korea.They form the main ridge of theKorean peninsula.
Geography
[edit]The Taebaek mountains are located along the eastern edge of the peninsula and run along the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula. The Hwangnyong Mountain in North Korea (1268 meters) forms the northern end of the range.Busanlies at the southern end of this mountain range, thus making the mountain range a total length of over 500 kilometers, averaging about 1000 meters in height.[1]
Prominent peaks of the range includeMount Seoraksan(1,708 m),Mount Kumgangsan(1,638 m),Mount Taebaeksan(1,566.7 m) andMount Odaesan(1,563 m). To the east, the mountain range falls steeply into the sea, but to the west, there are more gentle slopes. Many spurs stretch southwest. The most important rivers of South Korea, theHan Riverand theNakdong River,both originate in the Taebaek Mountains.
Ecology
[edit]Many of the slopes are extensively covered in forests.[1]
Industry
[edit]Economically, the Taebaek mountains are important for the mining ofiron,coal,tungsten,fluorite,andlimestone.[1]
Attractions
[edit]Manggyeongsa Temple in Hyeol-dongTaebaek,Gangwon-do Provinceat an altitude of 1,460 meters onMount Taebaeksan,is a temple built to enshrine the statue of theBodhisattva of wisdom.It was built byJajang,aSilla Dynastymonk. The "Dragon Spring" at the entrance of the temple is known as the highest spring in Korea.[2]
The2018 Winter Olympicstook place inPyeongchang,Gangwon-do,located in the mountains.
Taebaek is also a name of apoomsaethat is performed by the 3rd Dan black belts in Tae Kwon Do. Taebaek is mostly practised in Southern South Korea.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abc"T'aebaek Mountains".Encyclopædia Britannica.Retrieved17 November2013.
- ^Cin Woo Lee"Simply stunning: 33 incredible Korean temples"CNN Go.10 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-12